Rhys looks to me, then answers on our behalf. ‘We’re fine… I think. Is the patient?’ he asks her.

‘I think so,’ she starts. ‘She will be.’ She shakes her head, seemingly ridding herself of any uncertainty. ‘Yes, it’s fine. All fine.’ She smiles, back in charge.

‘Are you okay?’ he asks, noticing what I had seen too, that she doesn’t look okay, no matter how she sounds. He reaches out to her as she did me and I wonder what it might be like, to know someone who cares like that – other than the person getting paid to. To know someone who thinks like that; who reaches out when you look like you need it. A familiar sting bites at my eyes and I close them, searching skyward for the strength to move past the pain.

‘Honestly, it’s fine. Just a momentary panic. We’re a bit short-staffed, that’s all.’ Her cheeks grow ruddier. ‘I can manage,’ she says, as an afterthought. I’m not sure who she’s trying to persuade.

‘Of course.’ He peers at her, then nods. ‘I was just offering to help Susan get organised. Unpack a bag into her cupboard or something.’ He looks around. ‘Is there one?’

‘She didn’t come in with anything, apart from her handbag, I’m afraid. I was rather hoping we’d find someone who could help bring a few things in for her. Hence calling you, you know, just in case.’

‘Of course.’

‘I wasn’t expecting you to just be her plumber.’

‘No.’

Just the plumber.

I lift my arm, reaching it up towards him, and in the split second it takes him to respond I realise what I’m doing and snatch it back, thrusting it beneath the covers.

Just the plumber.

I search out creases on the bed, focus on my leg, the toes that point out from my cast. I focus on them as my eyes glaze and everything shifts out of focus. Kat says something to Rhys, nodding for him to follow her. He smiles at me, then disappears through the curtain.

‘It’s probably best if you go,’ she whispers. ‘She’ll grow tired quickly. Don’t worry, you don’t have to come back if you don’t want to. I mean, she clearly responds to you, I’ve not seen her engage with anyone before, but, well, I understand if you don’t feel able.’

‘I’d like to help,’ he says quickly, his voice breaking. ‘If you think I can, that is.’

‘She does seem to want you around.’

There’s a pause. I don’t breathe.

‘Right. Okay then. Well, I’ll be back.’ I hear him step to move away, then stop, his boots squeaking on the floor. ‘Just… keep her water fresh. You know?’ There’s a second’s beat before he moves again. I count his footsteps: twelve before I can hear them no longer. There’s a cough from the next bed. Kat sticks her head back around my curtains. ‘Try and get some rest, Susan,’ she says. ‘I’ll come and see you in a while.’